Hi Ben

Thanks so much for your interest! I did know about Leadbelly and the Lomax. They met and recorded him first him in the famous Parchman Farm (MS Prison).

The Students you refer to, one of which is John Fahey a PHD student not only revived the blues but spun his own interpretation - creating the 'noble savage' image of bluesmen ,,, as though they were corn pipe yokel traditional guitar-pickers - locally undiscovered folk hero's of America! Which they were not.

Mostly they were well discovered pop stars of their day! The real history of the blues and the commercialism around it didn't suit Fahey's 'hippy' views of the way he wished to present it! So he created the blues men as trad artists - salt of the earth types! While unknown to the 'white population' in the east and north and largely forgotten for 20 or 30 years, they were very well to their own communities. Famous popular singers!

John Fahey over romanticized the Delta Blues to match contemporary views he had regarding the emerging French Philosophy of his days in University!

Anyway, two other things.

First - next time you go to a Pow Wow - bring an acoustic! Listen to the rhythm not the vocal of round drum dances. It's Harmony Shuffle! Just try it! Trust me!

Second - Tommy Johnson the guy who was the first to tell the Legend of the Blues!' came from Terry, just south of Jacksonville MS. A couple of years ago I spoke online with an African American young woman called Tracie Kelly. I was excited because she came from the town that one of the greatest earlier blues players had originated. Guess what! She didn't know of Tommy Johnson - sadder still she had never heard of the 'Blues' nor did she know that her surname 'Kelly' (O'Caillaigh in Gaelic) was originally an Irish name (presumably that of the European Plantation owner for whom her ancestor's had worked for in 'indentured slavery'.

My point is this Ben, just because Native Americans don't know or care about their contribution to the origin of the blues, doesn't mean that my theory is wrong and more than little Tracy's ignorance of the blues diminishes the contributions made by Tommy Johnson many years ago in her home town!

Many thanks

ColmT